The Pod

In the distance, massive creatures crept over the horizon. Their neck extended to heaven while its head was long and rounded, but its mouth was open and filled with canyons, caves, and valleys. The beings ran around them, cover head to toe, not revealing any of their features or skin.. One of them raised their hands, showing off different signals as if to communicate with the group. 

Rueben turned to Lita to ask what they were saying but found her hands raised and communicating back, "what are they saying?" Her eyes were so focused that Rueben could see every shade of red that swirled around her iris.

She huffed jumping down the beam and landing in a cat pose before moving to the helm "there's a storm coming" Raye followed her down and he grabbed her shoulder.

"What does that mean?" Raye asked. He placed pressure on her shoulder. "And what are those?" He pointed to the giant beast silently roaming the landscape.

Rueben stood on the beam watching the majestic creature. Its ambiguous existence made her feel so small, so insignificant. "What are they?" she whispered so softly to herself, but she knew Lita heard her. Raye suddenly appeared next to the witch, grabbing her waist and helping her down.

Lita stopped the sail wagon "it means we have to set up a shelter" she jumped off the sail wagon, and Raye grabbed Rueben's waist again, helping her onto the soft sand "those, as I liked to call them, Giraffe canyons and they don't affect us" Lita explained to Rueben. "with sand storm coming so predators will follow, now" she pressed a button and the whole thing turned into a miniature version of the massive sail wagon. 

….

The pod sat against the terrain so out of place that its white curved walls looked like a tablet. Lita ushered the group into the small pod. It was a reasonable size but with two massive werewolves in the wall-to-wall cushions; it was cozy. Raye held his legs to his chest while Lita laid back on her side. Rueben sat in the middle of the two with the scent waffling through the air, but she was too focused on how close the walls were and how stuffy it looked. Even though air con was circulating through the air, she still felt claustrophobic. 

Pulling her legs to her chest. Rueben bit her finger, which gathered on top of her knees. "How long do we need to be in here?" Lita's eyes strained on the witch's skin while a panicked urge to release herself from this confined space began to settle in. 

"Until the storm ends or the world changes," there was a big thump, shaking the entire pod, which made Rueben grab both Lita and Raye's arms in alarm.

Harsh hyperventilation crawled up the witch's chest, she grabbed her neck and her eyes began to dart around the room, the flashback of the past, trapped in that box "what is happening?" Raye announced looking at Lita but Rueben placed her head between her knees.

Lita began to rub Rueben's back "she is having a panic attack, we need water and a distraction" Raye moved to pull Rueben into a hug but Lita shook her head "tell us a story, Raye" he was too focused on the witch's condition to say anything "deep breath" Lita coached her through her breathing as Raye sat there wide-eyed "RAYE!!!" suddenly snapped out of his state and began to search Rueben's bag.

He held up the eye again. Lita was confused but still maintained the breathing exercises. "Where did you get this? Tell us the story" Lita grabbed the relic in anger.

With still heavy breathing and the fact that Rueben felt like she was gonna choke, "are you dumb? You ask the person having a panic attack to tell you a story?" Raye struggled.

Rueben closed her eyes, trying to collect herself to stop the fight that just was about to break out and a peaceful memory flowed through my mind "Zurp, that's the eye of Zurp" Lita looked at Rueben while Raye approached her like a stray animal "they say…" he grabbed the witch's hand while Lita went to rub her back again. 

"Go on," he encouraged in the softest voice Rueben had ever heard.

Rueben book in a deep breath remembering the beautiful colours, the wild chatter and the explicit dances. "they say that the amber surrounding the eye has a sad story. That the eye belonged to a great dragon who was killed by a ravenous king, his lover fell into deep darkness instead of fighting the king. She let him feed his greed for riches that camped in her cave while she mourned over her love. Once the cave was bare, she cried herself to death, encapsulating his eye in her tears of amber. With these combined, it made a relic with such power that was legendary" Rueben exhaled as Raye smiled at her and realized her breathing had slowed.

Lita halted with fingers caressing the witch's lower back. "Why do you have it?" Ruelooked at her, determining whether to tell them or not.

"For my freedom" She dared as Raye's nose flared and Lita look like she was waiting for a story "I saved the Emperor's life but being in a world where the feminist movement didn't come around yet. His greatest reward was his hand in marriage, now he wasn't an ugly guy, quite handsome actually but I wasn't songbird" Rue rambled "long story short, I stole the eye to give to him so that he may end a war that I started. But I don't think I started it, I mean if we are blaming anyone I would call it, male egos" Lita started chuckling falling onto her back while Raye sat with his arms crossed and his eyes burning.

He huffed at Lita's reaction, "so you are betrothed to another" Rue looked at Raye while Lita's laugh got louder.

"Betrothed," Lita said in the posh-sounding accent before hollering again.

Rue shook her head and sipped the water that Lita gave her. "no, well I didn't accept the proposal," Rue explained while Lita shook her head at Raye's ridiculousness.

Lita waves her hands frantically. "stop, I am gonna pee," Raye pushes her while Rue worries about the stability of this pod.

"Ew," he sounded while Lita just snorted about it.